


Playing Games

by AkashaTheKitty



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Hogwarts years, Humour, Mild Kinks, Romance, Sexual Themes, Smutless Smut, Unrelieved Sexual Tension, explicit sexual situations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 15:36:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6913066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkashaTheKitty/pseuds/AkashaTheKitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose Weasley accidentally crashes one of Scorpius Malfoy's secret naughty games. Winning this game is difficult, but Rose is nothing if not ambitious. She quickly realises that the consequences of her ambitions reach further than she had first thought, though; now the game won't stop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mazvn](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=mazvn).



> **This is a cross-post of a fic first posted March 19, 2009.**
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> This is a faux one-shot, meaning that one day when I have the time there will be more chapters, but not right now. This is also a convenient excuse for the weird summary. Speedily betaed by **somandalicious** ; **elyaeru** 's brain was picked for Briticisms; **mazvn** had a birthday which gave me a good excuse to try out something new again. Every issue that remains is on my head alone. And I "invented" a whole new genre that I called smutless smut (yeah, I know I didn't invent the concept). Because sometimes it's not just about sticking it in. Thanks to **Dollface** for the lovely and very late implemented banner! Sorry! :) 

As far as cousins went, Rose mused, Al was actually pretty ok. He had been one of her best friends before they went to Hogwarts, and even after they had started there, the familiar connection had been present. It was just that with them being sorted into different houses and all, they didn't actually see each other a lot.

That didn't mean that when they _did_ see each other, he should be allowed to be such a git, though.

Looking back on her own actions, however, she acknowledged that perhaps she shouldn't have thrown pumpkin juice in his face at tea last Wednesday. It had been a waste of good pumpkin juice, after all.

Also, she wasn't enjoying her detention very much.

She would probably have gotten away with only losing some house points if it hadn't been for Al being _head boy_ and the headmistress witnessing the event.

Oops.

So now she was utilizing her brilliant mind doing filing that a monkey could do. It was beneath her. When she had very subtly tried to point this out, she had just earned another detention. Blah. She wasn't arrogant, she was simply...under-appreciated.

Al was a dork. A Gryffindork. Ha ha. Oh, she had to find some new material soon. It was just...in the last couple of years, he had begun acting more and more like their Uncle Percy. It really wasn't fun with a cousin who acted as if he had something long and unyielding rammed up his bum.

She missed James. Now, _James_ knew how to have fun. He had been head boy too, damn Potters, but he had been so much more _fun_ about it. He sure hadn't been trying to tell her how to live her life.

Truth be told, she was a little bit--ok, a very lot bit, if she had to butcher the English language--jealous. She had been counting on becoming head girl herself, but had been passed over. The headmistress didn't like her attitude. It stung and made Rose not care half as much about presenting herself nicely anymore. She would get straight O's on her NEWTs, because she was smart enough for that, but as to the rest of school life...meh. They could stick that where a wand shouldn't go.

When she had whinged a bit to her mother about the unfair state of the world, her mother had reminded her that she was a Ravenclaw because she treasured knowledge. She shouldn't be so preoccupied with status symbols because that never led anywhere good. Much as Rose loved her mother, she just didn't _understand_. Rose had worked hard to become head girl, she had put in the effort to become a stellar example of what a young witch should be, but then...the headmistress had chosen a Gryffindor...k. There was a serious bias in favour of Gryffindors in this place.

And that was the only place where she had failed. She hadn't even managed to get _into_ Gryffindor. That first year, Al had told her on the train that his father had told him that if she just _wanted_ to be sorted into a particular house, then the Sorting Hat would make it happen.

She had never forgiven Uncle Harry that lie.

* * *

Scorpius squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed the spot between his eyes. What time was it? He wasn't sure. The library would be closing soon. He closed his book. He didn't understand this. He was supposed to be _smart_ , wasn't he? Then how come he only ever managed to get _Exceeds Expectations_ in most subjects? He studied and studied and studied, but it was as if it didn't matter. He was stuck with the E's. If anything, when he stopped studying, he slipped down to an _Acceptable_.

His mother told him that she was proud of him and that straight E's was more than she ever had, but that didn't really matter. Scorpius noticed the way his father looked at him with disappointment in his eyes. He needed to find _some_ way to excel, but so far it just wasn't working out. The O's were as elusive as ever.

Aside from not making top grades, he hadn't managed to get sorted into Slytherin. He had been so disappointed that night six years ago when his fate had been decided. _Ravenclaw_. Since when had their family spawned _Ravenclaws_? They were ambitious; they were cunning; they were manipulative megalomaniacs and they loved it! At least it was better than Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, he supposed. Imagine having to be in either of those two loser houses!

He hadn't managed to be very good at Quidditch, either. He was decent. He could hold his own. But he was in no way spectacular. This year, he had only made it far enough to become a spare Beater--he did actually pack a pretty good punch--and needless to say, his father hadn't reacted with any great enthusiasm to those news. Draco Malfoy had been a _seeker_ , after all. And not just a spare, either. The Malfoys weren't spares waiting around for other people to make room for them; they were at the front making things happen. Scorpius just hadn't figured out how to do that yet.

"Hi, Malfoy," a blond witch whose name he couldn't for the life of him remember said as she was floating by.

He automatically smiled at her, because that was what he _did_ , but as soon as her back was turned, he grimaced. There was that. Those stupid twits seemed to like him. He blamed his mother. His father's features were too pointy to ever be anything remotely resembling _pretty_ , but, indeed, his mother was very pretty and had decided to give him those genes.

And, yes, there was no use denying it. He wasn't handsome, at least not really yet; in spite of his height and the fact that his build wasn't exactly girlish, he was _pretty_. This was quite possibly why he made a decent beater. Having to assert your masculinity over and over and _over_ again meant that you usually did the stupidest and most far-fetched things as well as got a decent workout.

And it just made the twits like him more.

He was more than mildly disgusted.

He was not just the product of his mother's genes, his father's money, his boundary-pushing behaviour and his pathetically average performances...was he?

* * *

Detention finally over, Rose decided to take a longer way up to the Ravenclaw dormitories. She wasn't really sleepy and she needed to walk off some righteous indignation anyway. Four hours she had been kept there. _Four hours!_ And on a Friday, too! Not that she had any plans, but she definitely could have had. No reason for the headmistress to snort when Rose had pointed that out.

At the very least, she could have had plans to socialize with the cousin that she actually liked, Lily.

Except, of course, that Lily had a boyfriend now.

Apparently having a boyfriend meant 'never having time for your favourite cousin anymore'. Rose was very glad she didn't have one if she had to be quite honest. They seemed to steal all of your time and several points off of your IQ. Besides, in Rose's experience, males were quite overbearing to boot, so...no thanks.

She hadn't come further than third floor when she heard something from further down the hall. Muffled conversation between several parties that ended just a bit too abruptly to be natural.

Someone was using one of the old offices and they apparently weren't keen on being caught, seeing as they had just cast a spell to not be heard.

Naturally, this meant that Rose had to try and catch them. She just loved to have blackmail material on people.

It didn't take a whole lot of effort to find out which room had been charmed, but then the question arose whether she should check for booby traps, find a way to eavesdrop, or just barge in. Rose normally loved to brag that the reason she _wasn't_ in Gryffindor was because she knew the difference between courage and recklessness, but she found that she wasn't feeling very patient tonight, so she decided to just barge in. It took her about half a second from making the decision to acting upon it.

"The hell--" someone exclaimed, but Rose didn't notice who, because she was too busy being disappointed.

It was a group of people playing some sort of board game. Talk about _boring_.

"You didn't tell us more was coming." It was Lamont Lawley speaking, a Slytherin boy in her year. He was not bad-looking, really, but he tended to be a really big prat. There was another Slytherin boy as well: Damian Cleaver. The same description applied.

"She's not invited." Ah, her housemate Scorpius Malfoy. That made three prats, then. But then again, weren't all boys like that?

"Shouldn't we kick her out, then?" Oh, now, wasn't _this_ interesting. Rose didn't recognize either of the two girls present, meaning they must be younger and not in Ravenclaw. Just from looking at them, she decided she wasn't missing out.

Malfoy didn't respond but just frowned slightly at her. He was probably trying to figure out what to do about her.

"Yeah, I was on my way to visit my _cousin_ ," she lied.

"Who's her cousin?" the ditziest-looking girl asked. The other one whispered something in her ear. " _Albus_ Potter?" Ditzy then exclaimed.

So, they knew her. Or, at least one of them did. Odd. She really couldn't place them.

"All the Potters, you numb-skull," the slightly less ditzy girl with the remarkably prominent cleavage chided.

"Oh, yeah...." Ditzy blushed.

"James Potter was dreamy," the other one said. "What's he up to? I wouldn't mind playing this game with him...."

What a doxy!

"He's engaged," Rose lied. James engaged, hah! But she figured she was doing him a favour in this case.

"We can't have that..." Malfoy absent-mindedly muttered, his frown deepening. She doubted he cared about James' relationship status, so he was probably referring to her running to Al, telling him about their little game. He really didn't seem happy. She didn't blame him. She wasn't the kind of witch that a bloke like him liked to have around. Too many brains and too little boobs.

It was sort of a pity that he thought that way, because he was... _pretty_. She liked looking at him. He hadn't actually always been this nice to look at, but it didn't matter; he'd never really been worth knowing. Back when she had had what she referred to as her 'incredibly stupid and overly naïve and trusting befriending' phase (what Al referred to as her 'human' phase), she had wanted to be friends with him. He'd just taken one look at her hair and snorted, "A Weasley?" before going on his merry way.

That had hurt. Because it had been her 'incredibly stupid and overly naïve and trusting befriending' phase. But she got over it. And it wasn't like he'd been mean to her since. They honestly just hadn't had anything to do with each other. Well, except that one time they had been paired off in Charms, but even then they had just done their work and pretty much ignored that the other one was a person. At least she had, and she assumed he had too.

She'd heard that his social skills had somewhat improved since her friending attempt, but, really, to her it just seemed like he had learned to manipulate people better. Not that she had anything against manipulation, it was her favourite pastime, but it wasn't exactly the definition of 'improved social skills'.

"She could join," Lawley suggested. "We're one witch short, anyway."

Malfoy slowly smiled as if the thought genuinely amused him. "This isn't her thing." Directed at Rose, he asked, "What do you want in exchange for not telling anyone?"

She felt a nagging irritation at his assumptions about this not being 'her thing'. "You could start by telling me what I'm not supposed to tell anyone," she suggested, venturing a little closer to the board, just to annoy him.

"I really think the less you know, the better," Malfoy said.

Wanker. "Fine, then tell me why it isn't my thing," she replied.

Ditzy giggled and shot Malfoy a _look_ and Rose couldn't help but make a face. "Oh." It was _that_ kind of game, then. So, this not being 'her thing' was code for 'sorry, not pretty enough'? That...rankled.

Malfoy was just looking rather dismissive. "Ten galleons, I'll give it to you later."

"No, I want to join."

Rose was feeling as surprised at her own words as Malfoy was looking, but then she shrugged it off. She was bored and watching people making fools of themselves was always fun. Besides, it would be interesting to see if he would call her ugly to her face.

Yeah...really interesting.

She resolved to not let his words hurt her. It would be stupid to give a superficial prat who didn't know her at all that power, anyway.

"Girls can always be paired with girls," Cleaver injected. "That goes for you, too."

"No girls," Rose calmly stated. Really, having to even go near both two Slytherins and a Malfoy was bad enough without making a fool of herself snogging Ditzy and Doxy.

"Then you can't play." Cleaver was looking rather relieved to be making that announcement. Pig. His hair would turn purple in a few days, that was for sure.

For now, Rose merely raised an eyebrow. "Why not? I'll snog _you_!"

Cleaver blinked. "I vote that she's in." Oh, that had been _too_ easy. His extremities would turn purple too. All of them.

"Out," Doxy said.

"Out." Ditzy really didn't have an independent thought in her head, it seemed.

"In," Lawley murmured.

So, in the end it was all up to Malfoy. He took a moment to apparently mull it over before he shrugged. "In."

The other girls scowled, but there was nothing they could do. She, Rose Weasley, was in.

She just wished she knew what she was in for.

* * *

It really was the strangest thing. _Rose Weasley_ at one of his games? He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it. In fact, he still had problems believing it. He'd never met anyone quite as stuck-up and self-absorbed as the Weasley girl. It wasn't really that he disliked her, he didn't know her very well, but he certainly didn't _like_ her, either. He would never have thought to invite her here, but honestly, that was mostly because he'd never thought she'd accept. He barely liked the two other witches.

He studied her, not feeling any great reaction to her looks. Her body was good. She wasn't flappy, but she didn't have bones jutting out either. Maybe a little more flesh could be desirable in some areas, but it was hard to tell. Her breasts seemed decent, but he'd been fooled by padded bras before. Her lips were full, but her mouth was always turned down in an angry frown lately. Her nose was slightly upturned with a sprinkle of freckles across it, making her look like The Witch Next Door more than anything else. Her eyes were a clear blue and always seemed to look at him accusingly. Her hair, however, was her most damning feature. He seemed to remember it looking softer and smoother at one time, but not anymore. It was big, bushy and _red_. He could imagine that hair trying to take over the world. It was just _that_ scary.

He smiled at her. Because that was what he did. She seemed unimpressed, but he didn't let that faze him. It was a well-known fact that Weasley was not human.

She sashayed over to the empty spot at their table. "So, what is this? Some elaborate way of playing Spin the Bottle?"

He frowned. Why would anyone spin a bottle? "Eh, no. I don't think so." He picked up a card and a quill, and decided it was time to remind her that she wasn't as unique as she seemed to think. "First name?" he casually asked, noting down the other info on her. He didn't bother to ask about her preferences, because she really didn't have a say in that, and he was pretty good at telling the approximate size on sight. Padding or no padding. When she didn't respond, he looked up again. "First name?"

Her eyes were narrowed at him. " _Rose_."

He almost grinned, but instead he smiled politely. "Sarah, Nina, Lamont and Damian," he said, pointing at the other players. "We are on a first name basis while in here. Formalities just seem ridiculous. Outside of this room, however, none of this ever happened."

"And yours?"

He frowned again. The witch would give him wrinkles before his time. "Excuse me?"

"I asked, what is your first name?"

Now it was his turn to narrow his eyes. "Scorpius," he bit out.

She just smiled sweetly at him. Twit.

He put the card in the stack with the others and tapped them, making miniatures of themselves appear on the starting block. The game was on.

* * *

Rose tamped down her annoyance at Malfoy's...Scorpius's...arrogance. Her first name indeed. They had been in almost every class together, had eaten at the same table, and had lounged in the same common room for _six years_ , and he expected her to believe that he hadn't even picked up on her first name? It was ludicrous! She wasn't invisible!

Malfoy...Scorpius...touched a glass half-globe in the middle of the board, making the miniature versions of themselves jump up and down in excitement. It was peculiar. "Nina, it looks like you're starting," he said.

Ditzy twittered and Rose frowned. Just like that? He wasn't even going to _tell_ her what this was about?

"Mind telling me the rules?" she asked.

He glanced at her. "Oh, right." He looked like he'd already forgotten her--way to dismiss her again! "You move around the board. If you're caught by someone of the other sex, you have to either pay a token or do what the board tells you to. If you wait until you're told what to do, it costs _two_ tokens to get out of it. You only get two tokens each go-around, so use them wisely. You also have one _Stupefy_ and one _Confound_ and can get more from this and that square if you're lucky. You may use that and other spells--not real ones, Damian, wipe that smirk off your face--you gain as you see fit. One use and then they're discarded. Clothes come off as the board tells you _or_ you can exchange clothes for tokens. The worth varies. Knickers always stay on. At least while you're in here." He smiled sardonically while the other players sniggered.

Rose fought not to show any was maybe just a _tad_ worse than she had thought. "And, um, the special squares?" she asked, annoyed at the slight squeak in her voice.

His smile widened. "There is 'The Dungeon', where the other players might do very interesting things to you, 'Knockturn Alley', where you may have some shady dealings, and 'Azkaban', where you might go if you're simply out of luck. The board will always tell you what to do. You'll learn as we go along."

Rose swallowed. So, she was about to get at least partially naked with Malfoy, two Slytherins and Ditzy and Doxy. No big deal.

Except, it sort of was. She wasn't quite that...decadent. She'd only ever kissed one boy and that was years ago. She couldn't even remember his name; he had just had the most soulful brown eyes, so she had let him kiss her. Once. One time. And now she was about to strip down with three boys?

"You can still leave," Scorpius smoothly said. "I'll even still pay you ten galleons to be quiet. But once the game starts, it starts. It gets annoying if people run off every time they get uncomfortable."

Rose hesitated.

"Aww, she's going to leave." Damian was looking disappointed. Just a minute before he'd been looking to get rid of her! She'd never understand boys.

"Quiet, Damian," Scorpius said. "I'm sure Nina and Sarah will be willing to kick it up a notch. Won't you, girls?"

Ditzy and Doxy tittered.

It was quite unbearable.

So, of course Rose had to stay.

* * *

"I'm staying," Rose announced.

Scorpius wasn't overly surprised. He'd never quite known that she could be played as easily as everyone else. It was a disappointment, really. He'd hoped that for once someone wasn't about to do exactly what he wanted them to. He'd hoped she would just stand up and walk away. In fact, the thought that she might had actually turned him on more than playing this game could anymore. He was terribly jaded and he knew it, but playing this still beat sitting around doing nothing.

"All right, Nina." He motioned for her to take her turn.

And thus the game began.

Scorpius secretly watched Rose for the first bit. She was looking slightly wary and constantly fiddling with her tokens. When the first encounter occurred, her eyes widened and she tilted her head slightly as if trying to understand what was happening. It was fairly mild; Nina and Sarah were the ones having the encounter and while Scorpius knew he gave a very good performance as the enraptured onlooker, he was inwardly rolling his eyes at the performance they were giving. The board _had_ said for Sarah to remove Nina's shoes and socks while sensually massaging her feet and then working her way up to Nina's scalp, but they were exaggerating too much to seem natural in any way. He knew they weren't actually interested in each other at all; he'd just put them down as eligible for other females because he could. Obviously, they thought he was getting off on this. Yeah, right. He was almost regretting inviting either of them to the game at all. They were pretty but dull.

Sarah looked up and he smiled at her. Because that was what he did.

A few more turns went by and while he was bored out of his skull, it was obvious that Rose was quite fascinated. Apparently, her cousins had never pulled the old _Evanesco_ trick on her in order to have a look and cop a feel. When Damian was tasked to kiss his way down her clothed body to remove her socks and kiss her feet, she actually blushed. There had been a few blushers at the game before, but mostly they were shyly shooting him glances, looking for his attention; _she_ was devoting all of her attention to what was being done to her. It somehow made it much more interesting and he could tell Damian felt the same way.

Scorpius landed in the Dungeon and Nina was appointed his mistress and he was to get his feet slapped. Eh. Whatever. Outwardly, however, he raised a suggestive eyebrow at her and she flushed with pleasure. Too bloody easy. He stretched out his legs and when she was doing as instructed, he bit his lip and willed heat into his eyes. When she looked up, her eyes widened and her flush deepened as she retreated to her own spot with a grin. Almost laughable.

He wriggled his toes and glanced over at Rose, who was looking at him with a thoughtful expression on her face. He wondered if she saw through him or if she just thought he liked getting his feet slapped. Probably the latter. Nobody ever called him on his lies anymore. Well, except his mother, but even she didn't know him as well as she used to. Basically, he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. It was boring.

A few rounds later, Rose came up on the square where his miniature self was standing. Interesting. He was actually quite curious as to whether she would be as focused on him as she had been on Damian. He looked up at her, just to see her holding a token out to him.

He blinked. That was new. And it certainly wasn't a welcome turn of events.

* * *

Rose couldn't quite prevent the blush that crept into her cheeks as everyone around the table seemed to just go still and stare at her.

"That is how this game works, isn't it?" she asked, very well knowing the answer since Doxy had paid to not have a turn with Damian last round.

"It is..." Scorpius said, bending forward and snatching the token from her hand. He did not look pleased.

She'd figured he wouldn't. Honestly, that was most of the reason why she was doing it. He tended to look much too satisfied with himself. If she hadn't felt like he was looking down on all of them, she would have taken her turn in a heartbeat. She was curious as to whether there was actually any reason beside his face why these other two girls seemed to be more than eager for turns with him.

The scowl was really worth whatever she was missing out on, though.

Conceited git.

Also, her feet were cold. Couldn't they have brought blankets or something if they had known they were about to get bare feet in an abandoned office? It was rather drafty.

Still visibly annoyed, Scorpius took his turn. Rose wanted to tell him he was pretty when he pouted, but she doubted that was a good idea, considering...well, everything, really. He landed on Doxy's square and was told to kiss her--deeply--for at least thirty seconds. Doxy looked like she might faint. Rose did her best to kill the laugh escaping from her lips, she really did, but apparently she didn't do a good enough job because the glance Scorpius shot her was murderous. She then watched with great curiosity as he went up to Doxy.

It always surprised Rose a little bit how tall he was. Not that he was _very_ tall, like for instance her father, but he was probably a good head taller than her. She supposed it might be due to how _lanky_ most of her cousins were--except Al, of course, because _Al_ was positively perfect, at least in his own mind. Scorpius wasn't lanky either. The best word to describe his build was... _yum_.

Where had that come from? He was _not_ 'yum', he wasn't even all that muscular and his shoulders could have been broader, and...oh, who was she kidding? He was most definitely 'yum' or she wouldn't be salivating from looking at his backside. It was true that he wasn't bulky or anything, but who wanted that anyway? He was lean and fit and she _knew_ he had stamina, because just last week she'd watched him take a bet with another boy on who would make it around the lake first with no stopping. He'd made it; the other bloke hadn't. Of course, he'd seemed close to dying afterwards, but Rose seemed to remember some green-eyed girl determined to nurse him back to health.

Why the thought of him having stamina made her squirm a little, Rose decided not to think too much about. _That_ certainly was a non-issue. Besides, she didn't like blond hair. Or blue eyes. She had heard that his dad had grey eyes, which was at least interesting, but Scorpius didn't have those. No, he just had plain old boring blue eyes just like hers.

Except, they weren't really boring. They were the greatest thing Hogwarts had ever seen, according to some witches Rose had overheard the other day. But they really weren't all that. It was just that the blue of their house colours brought them out and made it seem more prominent on his dull, colourless person.

She really could give lessons in how to delude yourself.

She grudgingly had to admit that he seemed like he knew what he was doing now, too. His movements were precise--so much they almost seemed studied--and they all worked to further his goal. A hand on Doxy's waist and another one on her neck. A small smile and some sort of reassurance that Rose didn't catch, when the girl began looking nervous. The hand at the waist sliding back to slowly rub her lower back...and then the lowering of his head.

The snog looked to be all right too, and Doxy certainly seemed weak-kneed. Rose almost felt bad for her. Scorpius's eyes were closed, but Rose was fairly sure he was acting. The kiss had no soul. Or maybe she was just projecting her own dislike of them both onto it. That could be. She doubted it, though. She came from a large family and someone was always snogging someone else somewhere. This most definitely looked less sincere.

But then again, this game wasn't about emotion. Maybe it just looked different when it was purely physical. She briefly wondered what the difference in feeling might be. It probably depended on how much you lusted after the other person. Doxy certainly seemed to lust for Scorpius, but whether it was returned was hard to tell. Scorpius generally had too many girls willing to do his bidding for his own good, and as a result, he always seemed to affect a certain degree of boredom.

The thirty seconds ended and the two of them parted. Doxy looked slightly dazed, but Scorpius just gave her a small smile and went back to his seat.

No, Rose decided. She did not want a turn with him. She didn't feel like risking making that kind of fool of herself.

* * *

Scorpius was feeling more irritable than he had in a long while.

Rose _Weasley_ had refused a turn with him and had then _laughed_ when someone else did want their turn. During the kiss he had felt her eyes on him and it had annoyed him more than he could justify. He'd had to make an effort to not take it out on poor clueless Sarah.

In retrospect, Sarah probably would have accepted any kind of kiss from him, even the more punishing kind. He didn't understand girls like her. They didn't _know_ him and this game was a free-for-all, so why were they always looking at him like that?

Anyway, turning away from her to see Rose's thoughtful, almost pitying, look had royally pissed him off. Who was she to pity anyone? If anything, _she_ should be pitied. Between her being a bitch and her cousin being the head boy, he knew that no boy at Hogwarts was interested in her. Not a single one. It didn't matter that she had it in her to look fairly pretty or that she could occasionally be kind (which she, of course, adamantly refused was the case), the fact remained that her very person put off anyone who might have had any interest in her.

Someone like her had no business skipping turns with someone like him.

Unless, of course, this was her version of being coy.

The thought gave him pause. Yes, that would make sense, wouldn't it? She was a fairly brash person and she probably had no clue how to act.

She wanted him just like all the other girls. She just thought she was being clever about it.

He smirked, having finally figured her out. He could play along with this.

He realized he'd zoned out when he'd apparently missed Damian doing things to Nina with a feather. Oh, well, that sounded boring anyway. Now, Lamont had caught up with Rose.

"I suppose you're going to pay your way out of it?" The way Lamont looked at Rose clearly said that he'd rather she didn't. It had been obvious that he had a thing for her all night.

The boy was _so_ out of luck.

"No," Rose replied. "I'll do it."

Scorpius had the strangest feeling of his entire body freezing into place. She would do a turn with Lamont but not with him? Was this another part of her ploy?

"Really?" Lamont was sounding pleasantly surprised and very, very eager. It was stupid. Rose wasn't _that_ attractive. Her nose was too upturned, her bra was probably padded and...did nobody else notice her _hair_?

"Sure. Of course." Rose got up and looked at the board. "What does it say?"

Scorpius bent forward to read and then couldn't help a snigger. "You're going to let Lamont sit behind you and fondle you and remove your shirt."

Rose's eyes widened. "My--?"

"And remember," Scorpius smugly interrupted. "Changing your mind now is two tokens."

Rose's lips thinned as she no doubt recalled that she only had the two left. "I'm not changing my mind." She determinedly stalked over to Lamont and sat down in front of him, pushing back against him to make him make more room for her.

She really was going to do it?

It appeared so, as she was wriggling a little in place to either get more comfortable or to get Lamont off. It seemed like she was achieving both.

Lamont slowly placed her hands on his knees and slipped his arms under hers to caress her spread them just a little further, and his hands slipped to the inside and up, up, up....

Scorpius found himself being strangely glad that she was wearing trousers. He didn't quite like the thought of _Lamont_ fondling Rose's bare thighs and knickers, when Rose wouldn't even risk a turn with _him_ , Scorpius Malfoy!

"Wow, she's really into it," Nina murmured.

"Who would have thought?" Damian asked, sounding a little bit strangled.

Scorpius let his eyes wander up to her face. She seemed very focused on the hands caressing her and there _did_ seem to be a slight flush to her cheeks that wasn't from embarrassment. She certainly wasn't paying anyone else any mind. Lamont moved his hands high enough for his thumbs to just lightly brush where they had no business being, and then he softly massaged her thighs for just a few seonds longer, before moving them up over her belly and her midriff up to her breasts, where he stopped just below, gently stroking. Scorpius would have been bored, except...she was _responding_. And it seemed genuine. They hadn't had that at the game for a while now. Not from a girl. Clearly, Scorpius picked the wrong girls to join.

Rose's breath had quickened and she was still entirely focused on the hands on her. Lamont moved them back down and slowly began unbuttoning her shirt. It was excruciating. When he was _finally_ done, he pushed the cloth folds apart and it became evident that Rose's flush went well beyond her neckline. It _also_ became evident that the prissy little redhead might not be as prissy as she seemed when a red satin-and-lace bra was revealed. It wasn't padded. Furthermore, Scorpius would bet almost anything that those hard points weren't due to her being _cold_. He leaned forward to conceal that he was very much less than unaffected.

"Did you know you were coming here?" Sarah disapprovingly asked, jarring everyone out of the delicious scene before them.

Rose just raised her eyebrows, giving Sarah a condescending look. "As in to play with you? No."

"Then what's with the underwear?"

Rose smiled rather mockingly. "It's what I like to wear...."

She chose that time to look at Scorpius for the first time since she sat down, and the effect was profound. He had been prepared to make a crack of his own, but suddenly he didn't dare trust his voice. She looked so...dishevelled and aroused. The fact that she chose just then to moisten her lips with her very tempting pink tongue just exacerbated Scorpius's state.

He knew he was being played, but he simply didn't care anymore. She was _good_.

"We're not done," Lamont murmured, sliding his hands up Rose's arms and slowly down again, taking her shirt with him.

Her eyes never left Scorpius's.

He hadn't been this hard in a very long time.

* * *

Rose was by no means a shy girl. In fact, she'd done some pretty spectacular things for attention in her life. Sitting down this close to a boy she hardly knew, though, unintentionally rubbing against him even before they got started...it had embarrassed her a little. So she had chosen to try and block out the onlookers, and the fact that these boys would be in her Potions class first thing Monday morning, and just focus on the sensations. And the sensations were pretty good. She would never have pegged Lamont Lawley for someone who knew how to caress a girl in a way as to make her both aroused and relaxed at the same time, but he did. He didn't just grope her the way she had half-expected, but genuinely caressed her. When she squirmed a little against him, his breath caught, so she did it again and noticed that his hands were trembling.

It wasn't until her eye caught Scorpius's, however, that she felt truly _naughty_. There was no mistaking the intensity of his look; the way he hung on to her every move. She even imagined that his eyes held promises of pleasure from _him._ It was a little bit ridiculous, of course, but at least he seemed to have forgotten that Doxy existed.

Feeling a tingly tightening in her breasts and between her legs, Rose squirmed against Lamont again, making him quietly moan against her shoulder.

"I wouldn't mind losing to you," he whispered in her ear, before trailing little kisses back down her neck and her shoulder and letting his hands cup her breasts.

Lose? Rose twisted her head as to inquire, but got momentarily distracted as he lifted his head to kiss her.

"All right, I think you're done," Scorpius interrupted before the kiss could take place. "I don't recall it saying anything about snogging and the shirt is long gone. Let's move on, shall we?"

"Yeah," Doxy added. "We're bored." She didn't look bored, though. She looked slightly flushed. As did Ditzy. And Damian was squirming a little in his seat.

All in all, it seemed like they had provided some good entertainment.

"Oh, crap," Lamont groaned. "You couldn't just have given me a few more seconds?"

"Aiming to lose won't get you invited back," Scorpius warned.

There it was again. Losing. What did it mean?

Scorpius was indicating that she should take her seat again, and Rose raised an eyebrow at his high-handed behaviour, but decided to let it slide. For now.

She carefully sat down, absent-mindedly noting that her feet were still cold, but due to the tingling warmth of the rest of her body, she didn't particularly care. It was odd to be the only shirtless person in the room, though. A few more rounds went by with nothing spectacular happening, unless, of course, you counted Scorpius getting the ability to move anyone anywhere he wanted and that he decided to kick Lamont to Azkaban, where he would have to sit out several rounds. Lamont didn't look very pleased.

Then Damian took his turn and landed on Rose, his face lighting up in a way that both flattered and worried her a bit.

"No fair," Doxy grumbled. "She's getting all the turns."

She did _not_. In fact, in the last round, Doxy had gotten two turns, one of which had removed her own shirt, showing everyone that her idea of sexy underwear was tacky and too small.

Rose really had to work on her bias against witches with little to no self-worth throwing themselves at undeserving wizards.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Scorpius said in what appeared to be his best placating voice, all honey, "you'll get your turns."

Rose had never much cared for honey. Too sticky and sweet by half. Doxy seemed to lap it all up, though. She should be careful or she might get toothache.

"What does it say?" Damian asked.

Scorpius checked the board, and so did Rose as it occurred to her not to trust his word. He obviously noticed that and frowned at her, but didn't say anything. As he finished reading the prompt, however, he smirked and leaned back. "Up for it, Rose?"

Rose had a hard time deciding. She was to go outside with Damian for five minutes, and whatever they did was their business, but he was to come back shirtless. It seemed fairly harmless, though, so she shrugged. "Sure."

Scorpius's eyes hardened just a fraction. "Make sure not to be seen by anyone else; there's a cupboard on the other side of the hall. Clock starts once you leave and I'll get you when the time is up." He turned to Damian. "Remember, underwear stays on or you're both out."

Ditzy sighed. "It's unfair that we don't even get to watch."

Lamont leered at her. "A voyeur, are you?"

Ditzy grinned back. "Oh, I don't mind joining in either."

Rose rolled her eyes and went outside and into the cupboard. Damian followed.

"We don't have to do anything," he was saying, unbuttoning his shirt. "Just tousle your hair and bite your lips and insinuate to the others that we had one hell of a time out here."

Rose turned and raised an eyebrow, not that he was likely to notice in the dimness of the cupboard. He didn't want to snog her? "That does sound dull..." she said.

Damian's hands stopped for a second before he undid the last couple of buttons, but he didn't take the shirt off. "I have to tell you, Weasley. It's almost worth losing to you."

What was with the losing? "How do you lose?" Rose asked.

"You don't know?" Damian asked, but then he grinned. "Malfoy is a bit of a control freak. This game is mostly a way for him to demonstrate his superior restraint. He's never lost. They say that if he ever did, he'd close down the game for good, but the rest of us just get uninvited for at least a few weeks. Not that he ever invites all of the same people every time. Except that one bird, but she got a boyfriend and now declines the invitations. I think he's been holding out for her to come, because otherwise there's no reason why we've been one witch short."

"Nice, but _how_ do you lose?" Rose was losing her patience with the blabbering, even though it was actually pretty interesting blabber.

"Oh. Right. Sorry. You come."

Rose blinked. That was supposed to make sense? "What?"

"Well, not _you_. It really only apply to the blokes. Any of us come, we've lost."

Rose gaped. "That's ridiculous!"

"And sort of humiliating," Damian added, grimacing when she gave him a look. " _Yes_ , I lost once...or twice. When you have three or four girls in nothing but their underwear rubbing all over you all night, it gets difficult not to. Unless you're Malfoy."

She wasn't sure she wanted to know about it. "So this is all some lame contest to see who can hold it in the longest?"

Damian grinned. "Well...it's a lot of fun too. Especially when we get girls like you that seem to actually have fun as well."

Rose pursed her lips. She would be lying if she said she hadn't had fun, but _really!_ "And what do the girls get out of it?"

Damian shrugged. "The one that someone loses to, he calls her the _winner_ , and she's guaranteed an invite back and...." He grimaced.

"What?" Rose gave him a puzzled look.

"Malfoy pays special attention to her until there's a new winner."

Rose felt suspiciously like gagging. "You're _kidding_ me!"

He shrugged again. "It's a status thing, too. Popularity boost and all that."

Rose didn't know whether to laugh or begin ranting about why that was wrong in every way it _could_ be wrong. Talk about being condescending and sexist and...conceited! The conceit was almost blinding in its sheer concentration.

"Hey, don't fret," Damian said, befuddling Rose by not just being an inconsiderate prat. "If you don't want to win, you won't. It takes a certain level of...enthusiasm, you know? And time should be up for us here soon."

Yeah, it would be, wouldn't it? And Scorpius would come out to get them, wouldn't he?

Rose suddenly smirked, knowing what she wanted to do. Damian looked a little bit like he suspected she had been possessed by the devil.

"We shouldn't waste time, then, should we?" she purred, walking up to him and grabbing a hold of his shirt tails.

"I really don't mind--" Damian was cut off as Rose began nibbling his neck and pushing his shirt open. "Oh, all right then," he murmured, and then he drew her closer for some more exploring. As it turned out, when you weren't wearing a shirt, there was a lot of bare flesh to stroke and kiss.

Rose couldn't stop herself from smiling again. This was all so strange and new and _really_ fun.

The door opened and a throat cleared. "Your time is up. He's not supposed to be wearing his shirt anymore, Rose."

Rose grinned and bit her lip, looking up at Damian, who was already looking slightly unsteady. "I'm sorry," she said in a low throaty voice and pushed the shirt from his shoulders. "I got...distracted."

"Cute." Scorpius seemed unimpressed. "Mind getting a move on so the game can continue?"

Rose just smiled and went past both of them and back to the office. Oh, yeah. She was going to win this thing.

* * *

Following the two love birds back to the room, Scorpius fought another burst of irritation. Rose would rub against Lamont and tolerate his hands on her, and she'd snog Damian in a cupboard for several minutes, but she wouldn't even _accept_ a turn with Scorpius himself?

Someone ought to tell her that that wasn't quite how coy worked. He wasn't likely to be turned on by her getting off on everyone else.

Except he kind of was.

But it was a coincidence. He'd be just as turned on if she'd take her damn turns already, only considerably less annoyed.

He'd been thinking, and he'd decided that the reason why he was turned on by this shrew of a female was that she was so obviously a very sensual being. Also, she had nice breasts. _Really_ nice breasts.

She was currently looking insufferably smug. He only wondered what she'd done to poor Damian. He even briefly wondered if Damian had already lost--it wouldn't be the first time--but it didn't take more than a cursory glance at the miniatures on the board to know that it wasn't so.

The relief was strange. He supposed it was because he wasn't quite ready to end tonight's session.

Ignoring the turns that bored him, Scorpius set out to corner Rose on the board. It wasn't easy, considering that she didn't want to be cornered and that, well, it just went round and round, but he wanted to _make_ her pay attention to him. There was a brief bout of indecision when he got the power to move another player again, though. He _could_ move Rose to him, or himself to her, but, ultimately, he moved Damian to join Lamont, who was still waiting out his sentence in Azkaban. Now neither of them could get any turns.

One wizard, three witches. No wonder Damian and Lamont looked so petulant. Scorpius rather liked those odds, though. It made every turn about him and, really, even when he didn't particularly care for the witches, naked female flesh pressed against him was always welcome. Soon, he, too, lost his shirt to a rather eager Nina.

He liked the way the girls--even Rose--looked at his torso.

Life was good.

Finally, Rose landed in the Dungeon and with her having made the decision to only take turns with males and two of those males currently being incarcerated...well. Scorpius smirked.

"Oh, all right, then," Rose huffed as if she honestly didn't want to.

Twit.

Scorpius read the board and then immediately decided it didn't matter if she was being contrary. This would be _fun_. "Over here," he said, patting his own knee.

She made a face and reluctantly went nearer to him. "What? I sit down?"

"No...." He grinned. "You lie down, on your belly."

" _What?_ " Her eyes were big and round and he was loving this.

"On your belly. You've been a naughty girl and you're about to get punished. Check the board if you don't believe me."

Rose did indeed check the board and then paled. He had some, not a lot, sympathy for her. She wasn't used to this, after all, and she was about to lose her trousers and she didn't have any tokens left. Of course, he _could_ remind her that it actually wasn't tokens that would get her out of this one, but he felt that this was one of those cases where you only told if asked.

Besides, somehow, taking a hand to Rose's backside appealed to him.

"So, I let you hit me?" she asked, giving him a dubious look.

"Not hit," he said, rolling his eyes. " _Spank_." He grinned.

"Same difference."

He shook his head. "Not quite. Besides, I need to take your trousers off first." He beamed, knowing that the reminder wasn't welcome.

"Why don't you just--" Lamont started, but was cut off by Sarah.

"No, let her work it out for herself," she said. "She's so smart; let _her_ figure out what she wants to do."

Scorpius smiled at Sarah, quite happy that she was such a petty bitch. No reason to let Rose know that there was a way out, after all.

Rose still looked doubtful. "How come I don't see _you_ getting a prompt like that?"

He grinned, quite unashamed. "Because I won't. Just about every aspect of the game can be controlled. I decided long ago to not include this part, but tonight I decided to make an exception just for you. You're the only one it can happen to."

Rose gaped. "You spiteful son-of-a-three-headed-dog! Why?"

Scorpius ignored the insult. "Because you wanted us to make special rules for you and so we did. We all risk humiliation here...why should it be any different for you?"

She scowled at him, but apparently he'd made enough sense for her to hesitantly comply, lying down across his lap. He had to admit that a half-naked and soon-to-be-even-more-naked Rose Weasley in his lap was quite...exciting.

He moved his hands to her waist and then stopped, frowning because something was missing. "You're supposed to squirm, flail, anything to make it at least a little challenging to remove your trousers."

"Yeah, well, you're out of luck," Rose grumbled. "Not going to. Just finish already."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows, doubting that she quite realized the double meaning of her words. "I'm not going to," he announced, absent-mindedly stroking her back as if she were a pet, inwardly laughing evilly at her obviously trying to dodge his touch without doing any of the squirming he'd asked her to. "I have all night, and there's no time limit on this prompt. We might bore the others to death, but I'm game...." He let one of his hands stroke down across her nice little surprisingly well-rounded bum before lightly pinching her.

She squeaked and jumped and then let out a string of very unladylike phrases.

Scorpius patiently waited for her to become quiet and settle down. "Now, now," he then said in his most annoyingly calm voice. "That is not my sexual orientation; I can assure you my mother is none of those things _and_ she's married to my father; I don't engage in bestiality; and what I do with my own hands on my own time is my own business. But I take it you're ticklish."

Rose had flushed a crimson hue that clashed horribly with her hair. It turned him on in the strangest way. "Just get this over with."

"I told you what to do about that," he said, lightly rubbing her lower back. She actually seemed tense. He knew she hated this and he half expected her to get up and walk out. It would be a pity, but this game was about boundaries and crossing them as well as staying in control while it happened.

"I wouldn't mind taking her place," Nina offered.

He smiled politely at her. He didn't doubt it. She would squirm and squeal and he'd do his best to get it over with as fast as possible. There was a movement on his lap and he looked down.

"All right," Rose muttered. "I'll fight you as long as you get started already."

"Yeah," Lamont was saying, frowning. "You seem to be drawing this one out, Scorpius."

Scorpius scowled back. He wasn't drawing anything out...much. And he most certainly wasn't intentionally fumbling with undoing her trousers, just because he was having fun. But finally he was pushing them off and....

"No way!" It was Sarah exclaiming this. "You had _no_ idea you were coming here? I don't believe you."

Rose had gone red in the face again and was glaring at Sarah. "Trust me. If I had known about this, I would have worn white granny knickers!"

In that case, Scorpius was rather glad she hadn't known. This was hardly decent, but much as he enforced the rule of some level of decency, he was much too enthralled to object. It was probably due to the fact that the scrap of red lace only covered the very essentials and he had a prime view of her rear end. Not to mention that he was touching bare skin and very aware of it.

"You can stop lying now," Sarah huffed.

" _You_ knew you were coming here tonight and could wear anything you liked, so why does it matter?" Lamont asked.

Scorpius was briefly puzzled by Lamont's consistent defence of their newest addition. He wasn't usually quite that friendly, even when he seemed to fancy the girls. He must really want to get this one into his bed. It was a bit hard for Scorpius to concentrate on someone else's motivations with an almost naked girl in his lap, though. Especially since now she _was_ squirming from the indignity of it all and...well, Scorpius hadn't known he had a kinky streak, but he was quite enjoying this.

"Can we just get this over with?" Rose asked, doing her best to hide her flaming cheeks.

Scorpius couldn't quite resist tracing the edge of her knickers, lingering where it dipped down between her legs. "So, you wear this every day, then?" Seeing her around would never be the same again.

"No," she bit out. "I have other sets."

He smiled, wondering if she had any sets in blue. He thought their house colours would suit her. "How do you want this?" he asked, flexing his fingers and watching her flinch. Ten slaps it had said. It wasn't really a lot.

"Over!" she growled.

He pursed his lips. That wasn't very cooperative. Deciding to teach her a lesson, he brought his hand down hard, making her jerk with the sting of it. "Like that?" he sweetly asked.

"Oh, please, that just tickled," she muttered.

Raising an eyebrow, he repeated it a few more times, noticing that she was tensing to brace herself and letting her hair hide her face. Not feeling terribly generous, he brushed her hair away from her face, seeing that she was biting her lip and focusing hard on the floor. He almost felt bad for her, but she had _refused_ her turns with him. It rankled on a level that surprised him a little. "What about now?" he asked, lightly moving his hand up and down her back.

"You're taking too long." Her voice was almost a whisper and he had to wonder at why she wasn't walking out if she was feeling that humiliated.

He brought his hand down again, feeling the sting and buzz in his own hand and then rubbed her backside for a few seconds before he struck again.

She remained quiet, even though she still jerked. It was almost over.

"Why didn't you leave?" he asked.

"It's a good reminder," she mumbled, seemingly more to herself than to him. "And, also," she said, raising her voice enough for everyone to hear, "I knew you wouldn't have it in you to make it interesting anyway."

Scorpius' eyes widened just a fraction while the others tried hiding their laughter in various ways. Even Sarah seemed amused. Feeling annoyance flood him, he brought his hand down harder than before for the last couple of slaps, ignoring that her behind was red and radiating heat, her face was flushed and her eyes were shiny. She brought it onto herself by pushing, constantly pushing. He hadn't even wanted to do it hard. "You're done," he coldly said, ignoring the beginnings of guilt nagging at him. She had _asked_ for it.

She stiffly got up and walked to her seat, carefully sitting down, pretending that she didn't care. If she'd just been _normal_ , he wouldn't have been so hard on her.

 _Damn her_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose's arse was on fire. At least that was how she felt. Ten slaps shouldn't have been that difficult to withstand, but it was the way he kept her waiting and was stroking her before and in-between that made it so much worse. It had been really nice to feel his hands caressing her. She had liked that part. She had wanted to rub against him and purr like a kitten and it had been downright terrifying. She had needed the reminder of his cruelty.

And she had gotten it.

It was worth it, though. Scorpius now looked angry, confused, disgusted and contrite all at once.

She had really done a number on his control, hadn't she? What he hadn't realized was that she might have felt humiliated in the moment, but she was an expert at shrugging off such feelings. She had to be with such a large family. Someone was always out to embarrass you for their own amusement, and bouncing back was a way of surviving. One that she mastered. She might not get off on the pain and humiliation, but she certainly was getting off on bothering Scorpius Malfoy.

She grinned. He stared.

Oh, fun! Her smile widened and his eyes narrowed.

Then he apparently decided to ignore her and flirt with Doxy instead. It was interesting to watch. Doxy was looking ridiculously happy just from a few looks, words and brushing of fingers. Rose actually began worrying that Doxy might get herself in trouble soon if she didn't stop being so bloody naïve when it came to young wizards. Someone like Scorpius wouldn't be flirting at a game like this because he liked the witch's personality. He couldn't be trusted; none of them could.

It was Scorpius' turn and he landed on Knockturn Alley, where the board told him to pick a witch and await instructions. He pursed his lips and looked from one to the other as if trying to decide. Rose rolled her eyes and then rolled them again as he looked back at Doxy with an inviting smile. The two of them had been almost disgusting to watch, and this would probably be at least just as bad. She looked down on her nails instead. Sure, she could use a manicure, but it was still a prettier sight.

"I choose...you!"

At first Rose didn't quite register the silence, but then she glanced up to see that people were looking at her with a variety of expressions on their faces. "What?" she croaked.

"Really, Rose, pay attention to the game," Scorpius admonished. "You were just chosen."

"I was? What about--" She didn't finish the sentence, because Doxy's glare was positively lethal. Really, what was Scorpius playing at? "I don't want to," she then stated.

"You really can't afford to keep passing, Rose," he drawled.

"I'll manage," she replied.

"I'm sure you will, except you can't use a token to get out of Knockturn Alley either and...what do you know, you're out of tokens and out of clothes anyway!"

"Oh. Why not?" She was convinced that her mistrust of Scorpius was only a healthy reaction as was her denial that she was only wearing her underwear.

"Because you can't. Now, stand up so we can figure out what this is and get it over with." He was visibly annoyed again.

Why had he even chosen her? She did stand, though, because she was rather nervous that if she didn't, he'd pull her to her feet and...she just didn't want that.

"Lamont, what does it say?" Scorpius asked.

Lamont bent over the half-globe. "You're to kiss her neck any way you like for a full minute. She's to remain passive."

"What does that have to do with Knockturn Alley?" Rose objected.

Lamont sniggered. "There's something cheesy in here about a vampire and a Veela and an illicit affair. You don't want to know."

She suspected he was right. She opened her mouth, about to make another comment, when Scorpius interrupted.

"Passive," he said. "Think you can handle that for a second, Rose?"

"I think you mean a minute," she retorted.

"I wouldn't be that ambitious," he muttered, stepping closer to her.

Rose looked away, unwilling to register him standing so close to her. So what if he was rather good-looking? He was still an egotistical, manipulative, sadistic prat, who had just now been playing with one girl's affections, only to opt to choose another girl for his turn. He didn't deserve for anyone's heart to beat faster for him. He didn't deserve for those girls to want him. He didn't deserve for her to go all weak-kneed just because he smelled good, had a nice chest, and looked at her as if he really wanted to do this. Of course he wanted to do this; it was what the game was about, after all. His game. A group of people snogging and caressing and stripping down until someone gave in to the pleasure, humiliating himself in front of the rest.

She wished there was a way to make that person be him.

Unfortunately, she wasn't quite that conceited. Considering how long he must have been doing this, there was little room for making him excited enough to be the loser at this late date. Maybe if she had known a few more tricks, but she didn't. It was hard to read what he liked. He'd put on an act, making it hard to tell. All she knew was that he had liked to watch Lamont touching her, and he'd liked to watch her sprawled across his lap as well. So, he was obviously a rather visual human being. That was hard to utilise, though.

He was pushing the hair away from her neck. "Why are you blushing? You aren't shy."

She was well aware that the timer didn't start before he began, and she really, really wanted this to be over. She forced out a small smile and looked up at him. "Maybe it's not from shyness..." she throatily suggested.

She noticed the glint of heat in his eyes before it gave way to suspicion. His hand fisted in her hair and drew her head back. "Stand still, then," he said and bent his head.

Rose tried really hard to think of something else, anything else, than his warm lips exploring her neck. It wasn't supposed to feel this good. It wasn't supposed to make her squeeze her legs tightly together and remind herself to keep them squeezed together after she sat down so nobody would notice just how bloody good it had felt. She desperately cast about for ways to break the effect, to get him to stop. It simply wouldn't do if she turned into another Doxy. He drew her a little bit closer and her mind filled with thoughts of naked, warm, smooth skin. Bad. Very bad. Suddenly she knew what to do.

She laughed.

* * *

Scorpius froze. And here it had been going so well. Her scent and taste, not to mention rapid heartbeat and shallow breathing, had intoxicated him, leading him to believe that this was actually going well.

And now the little bitch was laughing. Probably at him.

He lifted his head. "What?" He didn't even make a pretense of hiding his annoyance.

She waved a hand. "Sorry, sorry, not your fault. It just tickled."

He shot her a suspicious look. She hadn't jumped like before when it had tickled. Still, he could hardly fault her for being ticklish, so he resumed the nibbling of her nick, even though he wasn't quite as into it this time.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for her to start laughing again.

Once more, he stopped, but this time he spoke to Lamont instead. "Add the time."

Lamont nodded. Good. At least he wasn't the only one thinking he wasn't getting his minute's worth.

He rocked back on his heels as she composed herself and gave him an innocent look. He would never trust an innocent look coming from her. "Are you quite finished?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," she said, glancing up at him, no doubt assessing how bad his mood was.

It was bad.

Why wouldn't she take a decent turn with him? She had agreed to play the game, fully knowing who was in it. He wasn't bad-looking and he was pretty good at most of these things after practicing for more than a year. He even wanted turns with her, which was a pleasant surprise, considering that he'd thought tonight would be dull. Yet here she was, constantly seeming to want to sabotage him. This wasn't being coy; it was being spiteful. For some reason, he suspected that she just couldn't stand him and he wasn't even sure why that would be the case. He'd never done anything to her that he could recall, and his reputation wasn't terribly bad. The witches around here knew he wasn't likely to keep interest in any one of them for any length of time, so he was considered Enter at Your Own Risk territory, and, besides, he'd never truly taken advantage of anyone. The last thing he needed was to take some starry-eyed young witch's virginity under false pretenses.

He just didn't understand why Rose would have a problem with him.

"You're pouting," she pointed out, looking as if she might laugh again.

He glared at her. He did not pout. "Time," he balked at Lamont and then he grabbed her, determined to just get the minute over with. He pulled her head back more roughly this time, not caring overly much for her comfort, and then went rather brutally to work on her neck. Since enjoyment was out of the question, he might as well punish her some more. Apparently, she quite liked antagonising him so much that he wanted to hurt her. Apart from a few gasps, he didn't have any problems with her this time, and then the minute was up.

He looked down at the marks but refused to feel guilty this time. She had asked for it. She hadn't wanted for either of them to enjoy it. Besides, they were easily removed with a spell or two.

The most annoying thing, however, was the knowledge that she was going to be the one to make someone lose tonight.

And she wouldn't let it be him.

* * *

Rose was--very proficiently, if she had to say so herself--keeping back a wince as she retook her seat. Apparently when Scorpius Malfoy became vexed, he tended to come down on the rough side of pleasant. It was probably for the best, considering that the stinging kept her from melting into a pile of goo at the thought of his hands and lips on her, but a little part of her just wished she were able to enjoy it without all of this pesky thinking and reasoning. It was just that she rather feared that it would be very enjoyable and then...she would be like Ditzy and Doxy, clamouring for his attentions. It just...couldn't happen.

She had just learned something, however.

She held the power to piss Scorpius off to a degree that he would lose his studied ways.

This might not look like much to the untrained eye, but for someone who seemed to value exercising and exhibiting his control, it was a lot. She could get under his skin by provoking him, which meant there generally were ways to get under his skin. Now, if that challenge wasn't worth accepting.... As long as she kept it a game it would be ok.

Just because she could, she smiled at him.

"Like it rough, do you?" he asked, still looking less than pleased. The problem was that he was so cute when pouting.

"Some of the time," she said, not bothering to tell him that she barely had a clue what she liked. It was none of his business.

"You should have just said so," he said, not sounding like he really believed her. "I could have started out that way."

A full minute of him attacking her neck like that? No, she was glad that hadn't happened. "Maybe next time," she replied.

"By the way..." he said, suddenly looking smug. "If you had wanted out of this--or the spanking for that matter--you could have used the spell cards."

"The--?" Rose looked down at the cards in front of her, shocked to realize that he was right. She had been able to make it out all along by Befuddling or Stupefying him. Bastard. She forced herself to shrug and look at him through lowered eyelashes instead of calling him names. "I didn't mind being a little kinky with you," she lied.

He snorted. "Right. That's you not minding. I'd like to see what it's like when you do mind, then." He honestly seemed bothered by this. Aw, the poor boy probably wasn't used to girls not visibly falling over themselves to snog him or...whatever they were asked to do.

"No," she replied. "You want to see what it's like when I not only don't mind, but really want the prompt."

"Right."

"I know I do," Lamont piped in and Rose smiled at him. He was being rather sweet tonight.

She languorously leaned back in her chair, knowing that it pushed out her breasts and gave a better view of her knickers. But hey, she was getting used to her semi-naked state and she didn't mind the appreciation in the boys' eyes. Clearly she was not herself, but maybe this other person was a good someone to be sometimes.

"Better get a move on before Rose loses to herself," Scorpius drily commented, making the other girls titter and Rose frown in annoyance. So she was comfortable in her own skin, so what? At least she wasn't faking it like Ditzy had been all night.

Speaking of.... Watching Ditzy removing Damian's trousers with her teeth helped that annoyance a bit. Being prompted herself to do obscene things to Lamont's fingers with her mouth helped even more. Especially considering the way the room went quiet and Lamont was almost violently shaking by the time she was done. It was...satisfying.

Except the part where Lamont seemed to hoarsely ask her out in the middle of her playtime. Rose wasn't sure what he meant by it, since it had clearly been said that everything that happened in here stayed in here, so he shouldn't be doing that. Besides, Rose had a strong suspicion that he'd be expecting more than a peck on the cheek after if she did go out with him, so in the end she pretended she hadn't heard and just continued making him randy. He didn't press her, though, which was good. She wasn't sure what she would have done if he had.

* * *

Lamont wasn't getting an invite back, Scorpius decided. Asking another player out in the middle of the game was simply not acceptable. It brought the game out in the everyday sphere and that shouldn't happen; he should have waited until after they were done.

At least then, Scorpius might not have known about it.

Also, it was not very suave for Lamont to suggest Rose and he go to Hogsmeade together while they were both half-naked and Rose was currently doing very indecent things to his hands.

Things that Scorpius honestly wouldn't mind if she did to him all over.

There was just the teeny tiny problem of Rose not wanting to do a proper turn with him. What she seemed to get off on was rattling and unbalancing him and then laughing in his face when he showed some temper.

It made him want to do some very indecent rough things to her to see if that would wipe the smirk off of her face. Maybe that was what she wanted? It was entirely possible that he was being manipulated in that direction, but if that were the case, she was wasting a lot of needless energy. All she had to do was ask. He wasn't actually very interested in being rough with the girls, he preferred a softer approach, but with her he could make an exception.

When Rose received a wildcard to tell any wizard of her choice three secrets, also of her choice, while touching and kissing him in any way she saw fit, continuing at least five minutes after the secrets were told, Scorpius was fairly certain she would choose Lamont. Damian was looking hopeful and she had been giving him a rather spectacular snog out in the cupboard, but somehow her favourite seemed to be Lamont. This wasn't something that made Scorpius very happy, considering that he wanted her hands on his person bringing him off.

It wasn't very common for him to feel this way at all, but then again, it wasn't very common for girls to be this resistant to his charms. Especially when they had his interest. The last girl that had really caught his interest in any way was Amelia Clarke, another Ravenclaw in their year. She had actually been at his games since the beginning until recently, when she had decided she'd rather date some wanker than participate in the fun. Honestly, the sexual interest had long since waned and they hadn't really been doing turns with each other for a long time, but he had liked her because she had been different, honest, and a good friend. Rose was different to be sure, albeit not very honest, and he wouldn't know about the quality of her friendship, but he really felt like making her respond to him physically.

And wiping that smirk off her face.

Rose snapped her fingers in front of his face and he jumped. "What?" he muttered.

"Now, who should pay attention to the game?" she huffed. "I picked you, you dolt."

He stared. "You...what? Why?"

She looked thoughtful for a second and then waved her wand at his very comfortable chair, making it a little wider. "I wasn't aware we had to explain our choices." She straddled him.

Good God, she straddled him!

He tamped down his excitement. So she had decided to play with him. Ok. "Are you going to tell me about the invisible friend you had as a child, then?" he asked, feigning disinterest in the way she was subtly wiggling, seemingly trying to get comfortable. He would bet everything he owned that she knew exactly what she was doing.

"No. But it's just you I tell, right? Not everyone here?"

"Right," he agreed. "Just...lower your voice when you tell me about your invisible friends."

She smiled and leaned forwards, shifting her thighs in a way that made him grab them, not sure whether he should pull her closer or push her away.

"Fault," Lamont said. "You're not supposed to do anything unless she asks you to." He was obviously sore about not being picked. Hah!

Scorpius reluctantly let go. Then he not-so-subtly readjusted himself with a smirk. They couldn't fault him for that, since getting bits stuck in awkward positions could be rather painful. Rose simply rolled her eyes. She then took his hands and placed them loosely on her waist instead before lightly caressing his bare chest, apparently in no great hurry to tell him her secrets. When she bent to kiss his shoulder, pure white-hot lust shot through him.

"Detect Magic!" he managed to gasp, making her frown at him.

Damian did as requested. "It's clear."

"What was that for?" Rose demanded.

Scorpius was less than contrite and just shrugged. "Just making sure."

"You saying I would cheat?" she asked, seemingly offended.

"Yes."

She seemed to contemplate that and then she shrugged with a grin. "I suppose."

He supposed too, and he had rather hoped it was the case. As it were, however, it just seemed like he lusted too much after her. Considering who he was dealing with, it wasn't very good news. She was much too devious and strong-willed, not to mention smart. There was no way he could actually have her if she had decided she didn't like him. It had been obvious for years that she had decided just that, because she never responded in the least to his smiles. Not that he actually wasted a lot of those smiles on her anymore, but still....

She leaned forward and brought her lips against the shell of his ear. "Do you like my breasts?" she whispered.

Did he! Once he had realised just how much they weren't padded, they had become his newest best friends, even though it had been a pretty one-sided relationship so far. "I don't think I have to answer that..." he murmured, well aware that the way his eyes instantly went there gave him away.

She smiled and then softly said, "They're dark. The nipples. And fairly proportionate to the size of the boobs."

He raised his eyebrows. "That your first secret?"

She shook her head and shifted again on him, making his breath catch slightly. "No...my first secret is that I can come from purely touching and squeezing them...or someone else doing it," she purred.

Damn her if her words didn't affect him a whole lot more than they should. "I don't believe you...." He really wasn't sure he should. Was that even possible? She was just playing with him...wasn't she?

"They're really sensitive. Maybe I'll give you a demonstration sometime," she breathed, letting her lips brush his neck while she was making the most maddening gyrating movement with her hips that could barely even be seen. "Would you like that? To watch me come?" she asked.

Yes, please! He was afraid that if he made any sound, he'd whimper, so he didn't.

She smirked. Oh, how he wanted to get rid of that smirk.

She then bent towards his other ear. "Two..." she muttered. "I can also get off by simply squeezing my legs tightly together. I usually have to do it a few times, but it's all I need."

He made an effort to roll his eyes without simply allowing them to roll back. Her movements seemed to have intensified. "Now I know you're shitting me," he grunted.

"No..." she murmured, nibbling at his ear. "I did it yesterday in Potions. I think the professor knew what I was up to and didn't approve. He made that remark about how I seemed like I had been out running, remember? Merlin, that was a good orgasm."

His fingers involuntarily bit into her waist. He actually did remember, because it had stood out as rather odd. "Why would you do that?" Was that strangled voice his?

She shrugged lightly. "Sometimes I need to relieve some pressure.... I'm sure you step out between classes all the time. I can just do it in class without people really noticing and I find that exciting."

She was an exhibitionist? Oh, sweet Merlin...the images it sparked in his head were entirely too pleasurable. He shook his head. "I...don't...step out." Wow, she was really applying pressure in all the right places with those movements. He was a bit sore, sure, he always was at this point, but she managed to not rub against him in that excruciatingly painful manner most girls employed, thinking it would get him off. This was better. So, so, so much better.

"You don't?" She raised an eyebrow. "Well...I guess your drive must be lower. Don't feel bad. I mean, my sex drive should peak in about 20 years while yours should peak...um, now...." She grinned.

He glared at her. He knew that it couldn't be such a terrible stretch to believe that he took care of matters after school, and she was just mocking him for the hell of it. "Third," he demanded.

She shook her head. "You're not in charge." And then she began nibbling his earlobes, his neck, his shoulders, and even some places on his upper chest. When she teasingly nibbled his one nipple, he couldn't help but buck against her.

"Fault," Lamont calmly said. "Many more of these and you automatically lose, Scorpius."

Scorpius scowled half-heartedly, but resolved to get himself under control. Losing because you continually broke the conditions was not nearly as fun as losing because a sexy redhead was doing excruciatingly naughty things to you, making you lose your control.

"I like this," Rose was saying. "It's fun!"

He bet she thought it was. He was dying, literally dying, from Almost-Naked-Witch-Squirming-On-Never-Ending-Erection Syndrome--of course she would think that was funny.

He didn't really mind, though, as long as she didn't stop. He would hate for her to stop. It felt so damn good that even though he knew he wouldn't get off and he'd be sore for days after, he wanted her to continue.

"You think I'll get off from this?" she whispered in his ear. "From rubbing against you? I could. I know I could."

Scorpius moaned low in his throat and turned his head towards her, hoping she'd get the hint and kiss him already. She didn't, though. Instead she moved her head the fraction back it took for it not to happen.

"Kiss me," he demanded in a voice he hoped was low enough for the others not to hear, but halfway beyond caring if they did.

Her eyes dropped to his lips and she began worrying her own lower lip with her teeth, but she shook her head.

He felt a lot like he was starving and she was denying him a share in her feast. His fingers dug into her thighs in what must have been a rather painful manner. He didn't even remember his hands moving there, but since Lamont hadn't cried fault, it mustn't have been against the rules. She had very nice thighs; soft, warm, nicely shaped, would have bruises after his fingers for days unless she cast a healing spell....

She winced. "Stop hurting me," she whispered. "This is my turn; you aren't allowed to do that."

With a small jolt, Scorpius realised that he had hurt Rose physically in every turn they'd shared so far. No wonder she didn't like them much. "I'm--I'm not actually into that," he stammered, loosening his grip. "You just frustrate me. I want to kiss you. It won't hurt, I promise."

"But you do hurt people whenever they don't give you what you want or they don't have anything you want, don't you?" she muttered.

He stared at her. No, that wasn't how--!

"Third," she continued. "I have a recurring fantasy where I'm studying in the library, and I get up to go get a book and someone approaches me from behind. I never know who he is--he always makes sure I can't see his face and he never says a word--but he takes me against the bookcases or on the tables without anybody catching us and then he leaves. Sometimes I get off to this fantasy while I'm sitting in the library, studying."

She got off everywhere, didn't she? In fact...Scorpius took a good look at Rose's face. She was very aroused, no question about it. It was a part of what made this so great. But suddenly he understood something else--those little movements and her maddening caresses--they weren't as much designed to get him off as to get her off. That was why they were different. She had decided to use him for...what? A sex toy?

She had no idea how much he'd love to oblige on that.

The realisation made another pang of lust go through him and he trembled. Her hips kept moving in that painfully perfect pattern, and he trembled again, gasping for air. His eyes rolled back and he hated the fact that this never got him off. He wanted it to. He didn't want to just bring himself off when he was alone; he wanted it to be the work of Rose.

She whimpered in his ear and Scorpius felt his entire body stiffen. Oh, Merlin, he wanted. But Lamont was time-keeper and he'd stop them any time now. "Can I caress you?" he choked out, almost faint with relief when she slowly nodded. He couldn't not touch her.

Carefully, excruciatingly carefully, he stroked the unclothed parts of her body like he'd seen her enjoy with Lamont. He wanted to touch her breasts so badly, but he didn't want her to stop or ask him to stop or anything like that, so he tried to keep it respectful.

Merlin, that was hard.

She sniggered at him. "That's not what you want, Malfoy; you want to touch my boobs."

Of course!

"Touch me like you want to," she breathed. "Just...however you want to."

He didn't need her to tell him again, but let his hands slide around to her front where he set about to explore her breasts. They had a lovely size and he spent far too long just exploring until he heard her sniggering again. Then he let his thumbs slide over her nipples through the fabric. Her snigger immediately stopped and he smirked. He liked how it all felt underneath his hands, and he was seriously considering if it really could be true that she never would go for anything with him. As for the current situation, he was cursing his own rules that kept him from pushing the fabric of her bra aside and sucking her nipples into his mouth, one after the other, playing with them with his tongue, lips and fingers to see if it really could make her come....

"Stop," she gasped. "Stop now."

Reluctantly, he did.

She pressed against him, her lips against his ear again, but her subtle movements never stopping. "I'm wet," she whispered. "Do you like that?"

He groaned. She must be trying to make him lose, and she was definitely playing dirty. He did like that she was wet, yes. A lot. And he didn't even doubt that she was.

"Here..." she muttered, grabbing one of his hands and slowly moving it between her legs. "Why don't you feel it?"

Oh, God, he could feel it. Without even cheating and trying to get around the fabric, he could feel it. And he also understood something else: She really was going to win. Now.

With his other hand, he grabbed her neck and crashed his lips into hers before she could possibly object. He knew there was a small commotion because he was breaking the conditions again and making a move he wasn't supposed to, but he was coming hard and he needed to feel her lips against his just for that, even if the kiss was hardly the most skilled kiss he had ever given. It was fuelled by blind need, and he was vaguely aware that she tried to pull back, but he wouldn't let her. His entire body shuddered in a way that a part of him had difficulties understanding. But then again, he didn't quite understand why he was coming in the first place. He had had a lot of rubbing happen to him, and it had just never happened before. He squeezed his eyes shut and allowed himself a brief fantasy where they were alone in a big bed and he was buried deep inside of her.

What he wouldn't give.... He was vaguely aware that he was moaning into her mouth and tried to hold the sounds back, but, damn, it just felt so good.

He didn't let go of her until he was done coming. It felt like longer than it probably was, but when his thoughts finally cleared and he loosened his grasp on Rose's neck, he realised that she had gone stiff and was avoiding his eyes.

She didn't like that he'd come?

The thought annoyed him in what was otherwise a very, very satisfied moment. If she didn't like it, then too bloody bad. She'd been the one to make it happen, after all! With her...breasts...and her deliciously wet knickers pressed against his groin and his hand. He hadn't stood a chance.

Considering that he wanted to make this real, however, he should probably not say that. He sighed. "I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable," he said as gently as he could manage, and then he looked to Lamont. "In case there's any doubt--I lost. Big time."

Lamont raised an eyebrow. "No doubt, just amazement," he assured him, as people slowly began collecting their things.

The game was over for tonight.

* * *

Rose swallowed and tried hard to get her act together so she could do her little bouncing back thing. She had won the game by making Scorpius lose and she should be jumping for joy. It had even been great to have him react so strongly to her words and actions like that. She hadn't quite expected him to come just from feeling her arousal, but it didn't bother her in the least that he had. She loved that part.

But she had already told him that she didn't want to kiss him and yet he'd gone ahead and done it anyway. It had been mindless and deeply sexual, just another erogenous zone getting stroked; she got that.

It was just...he was too easy to like, even when you knew he would chew you up and spit you out and she had not wanted to know what kissing him on the lips would be like. Her lips burned and her heart was pounding and he didn't even understand what he'd just done.

She wasn't sure she understood either.

All she knew was that this was the only actual kiss she had gotten all evening in spite of being in her underwear on the lap of someone she had just made come, and she hadn't wanted it. It had felt strangely intimate and it had made her acutely uncomfortable.

Quietly, she scrambled to her feet and began dressing.

Ditzy and Damian were suspiciously quick to get out of there while Doxy and Lamont both seemed to hang around.

"Why don't you walk Sarah back to your common room?" Scorpius suggested to Lamont.

"Actually, I thought I--" Lamont began.

"Ok, let me clarify," Scorpius interrupted. "Leave. Both of you. Now."

Lamont looked annoyed, but decided to do as he was told. Doxy mostly looked wounded. Good to remember what a bastard Scorpius could be.

"Charming," Rose said, as she was putting on her shirt. "Really charming."

"I wanted a word with you," he said. "Besides, if he wants to ask you out again, he has plenty of opportunity."

Rose's movements froze for a second, but then she forced them to resume. He really hadn't noticed the look in Doxy's eyes, had he? "I don't really have anything to talk to you about," she said.

"I never lost before." He said that so casually, as if it didn't bother him that he'd just come in a room full of people. It probably didn't. This whole thing was crazy.

"I know."

"It felt brilliant," he added.

She nodded, feeling a bit odd about this conversation. "Orgasms often do."

"It felt better than that." His voice was soft. She didn't like it one bit.

Time to go for the curt approach. "You're welcome."

He had gotten dressed and was looking immaculate, not a trace of the ecstasy from before left. "Let's walk back together," he casually suggested.

"Forget it," Rose said, still trying very hard to push her subdued mood aside and finishing getting dressed herself.

"It seems silly to--"

"I'm not sleeping with you," she cut him off, not wanting to play any more games.

"I didn't ask you to. I suggested we walk back together, nothing more."

Rose snorted at his feigned innocence, wondering at why she felt so damn unhappy. "Oh, please. I know boys and I know that look in your eyes. You're just wondering how fast it can happen and I'm telling you: Not at all."

Scorpius looked down at his trousers and then up again with the most annoying grin on his face. "I hate to tell you this, I really do, but I'm much too sore to sleep with anyone tonight."

"I doubt you thought it would be tonight anyway," she muttered.

He looked at her thoughtfully for a few seconds. "Why are you upset?"

"I'm not upset."

"Yeah...you are."

Yeah, she was. "Just...leave me alone." She walked out and began walking rapidly down the hall towards the stairs that would take her one floor closer to her--their--common room.

He followed. "Why? What did I do?" he insisted. "I'm sorry if you didn't intend for me to lose, but it seemed like you did and it felt so damn good; I'm not sure I could have stopped myself even if I'd wanted to."

"That's not it."

"Then what?"

"You--" She cleared her throat as it threatened to close up. This was so stupid. "You had no right to snog me like that after I told you not to!"

He stopped walking and grabbed her arm to force her to stop too. "You're upset because of a kiss?"

"You had no right," she repeated.

He looked genuinely confused and who could blame him? "I'm sorry. I didn't know it would be that big of a deal. I just thought you were teasing me."

She bared her teeth and jerked her arm free. "Because men haven't been using that excuse for centuries."

For a second his eyes went harder, but then he managed to hide the reaction. "I am sorry that you didn't appreciate the kiss. I don't blame you, really, I wasn't putting much thought into it. But I don't understand why you're this upset about a bad kiss considering everything we did in there."

Because it hadn't been bad. Because it had made her heart pound, her head spin, her toes curl, and her knickers inexplicably wetter, and he hadn't truly been along for that ride because he had Ditzies and Doxies everywhere he went and it was nothing special to him, just friction on his lips and tongue to make his orgasm better. It made her feel used.

"I don't like being forced." She knew she wasn't making much sense, but it was the best she could do.

It seemed to make sense to him, though, because suddenly he grimaced. "Oh, Merlin, you're right. I did force you. I even knew it. I'm really sorry, and I promise not to do that again. It's just...I wanted to ask, but I was afraid you'd say no, and that just makes it worse, doesn't it?" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, actually looking distressed. "I don't know what happened to me tonight, Rose," he murmured. "It's not me."

She decided it was another one of his acts. "It's all right," she said. "It was just a kiss after all."

He glanced at her. "It's not all right. You think I'll hurt you--physically, I mean--if you let me touch you again."

Oh, right. So he wasn't acting; he was just sorry because it stopped him from getting what he wanted. He was selfishness personified. "Don't fret. I really was never going to let you touch me again, even if you hadn't been rough."

He moved closer to her, and alarm bells went off in her head, but she couldn't budge. There was no way she could show fear now.

"Why not?" he asked in a low voice. "It would be really, really good, I promise. I haven't been this excited about anyone in a long time and I know you feel it too. In fact, I know you didn't get off in there, probably because of my stupid mistake, and I could make that up to you...."

"I thought you said you were too sore," she said, raising an eyebrow.

He grinned. "I am, sort of, but there are many things I could do to you that I bet you'd like...."

The way his breath tickled her cheek and ear was doing funny things to her. She mentally slapped herself. She knew better than this.

"Right," she said, finally stepping back, "but that's not going to happen."

"Give me one good reason why it shouldn't, Rose."

"I'm a virgin," she said, inwardly cringing, but otherwise showing all the pride she could muster. "And I'm going to stay that way until I can find someone I actually want to date."

"You're--?" His eyes flickered for a second. "No."

Her jaw fell open. "No?"

"Yeah, no way can you respond to three blokes like that in one night and talk about getting yourself off in public and with strangers in the library and still be a virgin and...and what about the underwear?" He shook his head. "You're lying to discourage me."

Rose just stared. She had had no idea that only non-virgins were allowed to buy nice underthings or masturbate and have erotic fantasies. "Right. Well. It should tell you something if a girl is willing to lie to get rid of you," she pointed out instead of arguing her side.

Scorpius was such an arse.

* * *

Scorpius was such an arse.

He cringed. He'd known the very second he had spoken those words that they were insane and unjustifiable. Not to mention bigoted and hurtful. He really, really, really didn't understand what had happened to his suave ways tonight. Maybe he should just go to bed and pray he'd be better tomorrow, because this wasn't working. She wasn't accepting his proposal to have a little more one-on-one time and it was driving him nuts. He'd gladly settle for getting her off, because that would make for very good wank material for later, but she wasn't going for it.

And who could blame her, the way he'd been acting tonight? She was probably completely revolted by him by now and he didn't know how to make it better. Even though he hadn't thought they'd known each other particularly well before tonight, she still knew him too well to buy any of his lines.

She was walking away again and he panicked, grabbing her arm, but making sure his hold wasn't too tight. "Wait!"

"What?" she looked annoyed and also slightly nervous. Was she afraid he'd hurt her? The thought made him dizzy. He'd never physically hurt a girl in his life.

"Can I at least give you a better kiss?" he quietly asked. Personally, he had loved the other kiss, but in retrospect it really had been quite obvious that she hadn't felt the same. He just wanted to show her that he could be gentle.

She looked positively terrified. "No!"

"It won't take long," he promised, wincing a bit at how he was begging some witch for a kiss.

"Will it make you go away?" she asked, looking wary.

He reluctantly nodded.

"Ok, fine. But quick so we won't get caught. My detention schedule is full."

He heavily exhaled, not quite feeling like he was given much of a chance here, but nevertheless complying. He gently pulled her close, and this time he took care not to force her, but to just use a hand on her neck to guide her. She seemed hesitant and it was as if she had to force herself not to move. It was all in all very discouraging. Still, he closed his eyes and tried to make the best of it, gently moving his lips over hers while caressing her cheek with his thumb. He could feel her pulse beneath his fingers on her throat, and the way it seemed to speed up encouraged him to try and deepen the kiss, but then she was suddenly gone, standing a few paces away.

"That's enough," she announced, visibly out of breath. "You proved your point."

Hardly. He nodded, though, while quickly processing what just happened. It seemed like she was attracted to him, but she didn't want to be. She had reacted just now and she had reacted while they were playing the game, but her behaviour was a pure knee-jerk reaction, because...he didn't actually know why, but her reasons were probably silly. He could eventually have her if he did it right. Carefully hiding his joy at that revelation, he slowly smiled at her.

He could have her.

* * *

Letting Scorpius kiss her again had been a bad idea. A bad idea. Rose had known it at the time, and, now, three weeks later, she knew it even better. He had sensed her fear and, whatever reason he'd subscribed to it, had decided that he could make it go away.

It was difficult at best.

Especially considering just how much she had enjoyed that kiss. She really should never have allowed it, because she now knew exactly what Doxy had felt when it had been her turn to kiss Scorpius. She just had to keep reminding herself how Doxy had probably felt at the rejection afterwards.

Damn. Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.

In a fit of desperation, she had agreed to go to Hogsmeade with Lamont, making sure that he understood that this didn't mean she would get naked with him, but Scorpius hadn't had problems finding a date of his own. That had been...odd. Scorpius had mostly seemed amused when they'd run into him. Rose had considered snogging Lamont in front of him just to see if that would annoy him at all, but at the last second her common sense had intervened, preventing her from making a spectacle of herself.

The worst bit was that he was so damn nice to her. It wasn't fair. She would rebuff him more violently if it weren't for the fact that Al seemed to be very much bothered by Scorpius having his lunch with her every day. She liked to bother Al. So did Scorpius. Why did they have to have that particular thing in common? It made too many things into perfectly viable options.

It was painful. Just...painful. And she had to act like it wasn't affecting her at all.

At least Al was also bothered that she'd gone on a date with a Slytherin.

Lamont seemed to think that most of this was just Scorpius paying attention to the winner, but Rose knew better. For one thing, he'd kept it up for more than the allotted week. It was true that he hadn't had any more games since he had lost, but he still shouldn't logically be doing it for more than one week. For another, she was painfully aware of how much effort he put into charming her without actually stalking her. In fact, Rose bitterly thought, he seemed to be perfectly able to be treating more girls at once to his special attention. She should be happy that he was so obvious about it because it kept her from buying into it, but...she supposed she wanted to believe something different.

Which was why she was reconsidering her stance on boyfriends and considering Lamont for the part. He really had improved a lot in her eyes lately, and, strangely, he didn't seem put off by her whenever she was self-confident and outspoken (what Al referred to as 'arrogant' and 'bitchy'), when most other people seemed to be.

The only thing keeping her back was that Lily told her that if she was in doubt, it probably wasn't right. Since when had her younger cousin become so wise, anyway? But she didn't need for it to be right, she just needed for it to...be.

And now...here she was. Three weeks later, at breakfast, with an invitation in her hand.

From Scorpius Malfoy. To play a Game.


End file.
